Items tagged with FCC
There are enough bad drivers on the road as it is, but what's particularly frustrating is seeing a fellow motorist drive recklessly as a result of using a mobile phone. Jason R. Humphrey from Florida must have seen it one too many times, hence his decision to use a cell phone jammer during his commute. That decision...
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When it comes to the often slow pace of security updates being pushed to the mobile devices that are at center of our daily digital lives, both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are looking for some answers. The FCC is taking U.S. wireless carriers (like AT&T, Verizon...
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Comcast has sparked the ire of customers across the country with its restrictive broadband data caps. Earlier this week, we reported that during the first half of 2015, Comcast received 863 complaints about its data caps. However, for the second half of the year, those complaints skyrocketed to nearly 8,000 as it...
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Much to the chagrin of cable TV providers that profit from leasing out set-top boxes to customers, the Obama administration joined the Federal Communications Commission in pushing for changes that would give consumers the option of buying less expensive third-party boxes that would offer full functionality with their...
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Early last month, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler revealed a proposal that would give low-income Americans a monthly subsidy to help cover the cost of home broadband Internet access. Wheeler explained that the subsidy would be made possible thanks to updates to the Lifeline program...
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During his tenure as FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler has taken on the telecom industry with net neutrality, and more recently, is looking to upend the cable box market by forcing cable and satellite providers to open their services to third-party hardware manufacturers. Now, Wheeler is turning his attention to another hot...
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The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is looking to give poor Americans greater access to the Internet via an update to the controversial Lifeline program. The proposal, which would give low-income Americans a $9.25 monthly subsidy for home broadband access, is meant to bridge the technological gap between the...
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Just over a year ago, lawmakers asked for the assistance of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in investigating Verizon’s use of supercookies to track users. After a lengthy investigation, the FCC returned its verdict today, fining Verizon $1.35 million for tracking users without their consent in an effort to...
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If anyone was concerned that appointing a former cable industry insider as the FCC chairman would mean that the regulatory body would favor the cable industry, those concerns have been completely obliterated over the past few years. First there was the ruling on net neutrality, which sent telecoms into a tizzy, and we...
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The Federal Communications Commission is looking into various wireless plans with so called zero-rating services to see if they run afoul of net neutrality legislation, including T-Mobile's popular Binge On program. In case the FCC is need of any advice on the matter, T-Mobile has a message for the agency—"tread...
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It’s hard to believe that anyone in the United States expects the cable industry to react quickly to anything; be it customer complaints, innovation, or even something as simple as showing up on time for a scheduled service appointments. However, if you threaten a steady revenue stream for America’s cable giants...
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If there’s one U.S. industry that could use a healthy dose or regulation, it’s likely the cable industry. The cable industry has been slow to change and adapt to new technologies because existing regulations have allowed it to basically get it way, commanding service monopolies (or duopolies) in most regions and...
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T-Mobile’s Binge On initiative at first seemed like a pretty good deal for its customers. In exchange for reduced video quality (480p), T-Mobile customers could enjoy unlimited streaming from partner services including Hulu and Netflix without hitting their monthly data pool.
Initially, FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler...
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Several Internet service providers (ISPs) have drawn the attention of the Federal Communications Commission with so-called "zero-rating" offerings, which is the practice of exempting certain services from counting against a customer's data cap. What FCC chairman Tom Wheeler wants to figure out is whether or not...
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It probably won't come as much surprise that Comcast and its customers aren't on the same page when it comes to data caps. Simply put, Comcast is in favor of charging extra when a customer goes over a set amount of data per month, while customers despise them and have filed over 13,000 related complaints with the...
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T-Mobile's been on a mission to disrupt the wireless market, hence why it calls itself the un-carrier. One of the more recent and controversial initiatives to come from T-Mobile is Binge On, a program that allows that allows customers to access certain streaming services without it counting against their data caps. On...
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Have you ever felt like you're being followed? Excuse us for feeding into your paranoia, but you are being tracked. It happens each and every time you surf the web, and it's going to keep happening, even if you've enabled that feel-good "Do Not Track" setting in your browser that most websites and online services ignore.
They ignore it
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You would have thought that companies would have wised up after Marriott was caught using unlicensed jamming equipment in conference rooms to block the Wi-Fi hotspots of its paying customers. Predictably, when hotel patrons would complain about not being able to access the Internet with their smartphones or mobile...
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Just over a month ago, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) really stuck it to AT&T, fining the communications giant a whopping $100 million fine for misleading customers with regards to throttling data speeds. After hearing from thousands of disgruntled customers over the past few years that complained about...
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It's official -- AT&T is now the proud owner of DirecTV, making it the largest pay TV provider in the U.S. and the world. The $49 billion acquisition bumps AT&T's customer base in the U.S. to 26 million, along with 19 million customers in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean. It also makes AT&T and...
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AT&T may have failed in its attempt to acquire rival wireless provider T-Mobile for $39 billion back in 2011, but as for its proposed $48.5 billion acquisition of satellite TV service giant DirecTV, federal regulators are set to approve the deal. Doing so would end a more than yearlong review process that began in May of 2014 when the deal
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AT&T just doesn’t seem to be able to keep it nose clean when it comes to its “old” unlimited data plans. While AT&T has done a pretty amazing job of shifting the majority of its smartphone customers over to more lucrative (for AT&T) Mobile Share Value plans, it still has to contend with unlimited data customers that...
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